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BIBOA in Antarctica
	Member Murray Macleod of www.seatrek.co.uk is suited, booted and RIB ready to ferry adventurous holidaymakers around Antarctic seas; read Murray's article for the full story. View Full PDF

Safety at Sea
	Good enjoyable boating is what BIBOA is all about. Do have a good read of this article so that you and your RIB are ready for 2010 ... Happy New Year! View Full PDF

BIBOA in Bonny Scotland
	Jean Macdonald tells us about Rothesay, Tignabruich, The Burnt Isles,the Mull of Kintyre and many more lochs and secret anchorages in BIBOA's ancestral homeland. Do join a BIBOA Scottish cruise next year! View Full PDF

BIBOA's cruise to St Vaast la Hogue
	A good weather forecast, superb RIBS, luverley grub and a great clutch of BIBOA members, what more could we want ... a calm sea? No chance! Read all about the vin rouge, moules and slightly tiresome conditions. View Full PDF

Carteret cruise and France for free in 2008
	This was a superb BIBOA to Carteret. Six RIBS and a dozen members cruised in gorgeous sunshine taking in Alderney, Carteret, Jersey,Guernsey and buckets of moules! View Full PDF

Fuel duty changes are now in force -
	HMRC might be calling on you ...we set out below a pdf of the full text of a briefing note issued by HMRC with all the details. View Full PDF

A Boys Own Adventure

Sitting at home on a dark winter’s day, our 10 year old son Bryn and I were discussing missing being out on the RIB and what should we do in the coming year? For us the previous season of family ribbing was mainly cruising: the pleasures of arriving at different ports and harbours and the cruise planning involved. So a plan was hatched for a 2 week trip around England and Wales. The aim was to travel from Berwick upon Tweed (by the Scottish border) clockwise right around to Carlisle (again close to the Scottish border). My wife Kathryn remained sceptical at this initial stage. View Full PDF

Life Jacket Checks

We all spend a great amount of time cleaning, checking and servicing the RIB, but how much attention do we pay to that important piece of equipment that we hope we’ll never need to use? If you have an air inflation life jacket, you not only expect it to inflate on demand, but to hold the air as well. Yet the life jacket cover could be abraded, or even punctured, as it’s probably been stowed in a console or under a seat when it’s not worn. So, when did you last test your life jacket? You don’t have to activate the compressed air canister to check that it will hold air, the test is completely nondestructive! View Full PDF

A Fishy Tale

This year’s trip to Fowey in Cornwall was a great success for the club and those that took part. The fast ferry was out there somewhere! The event started with 3 boats (Sea Devil, Tweety Pie, Marikh and Caprisante ) all meeting up at Old Harry rock just outside of Poole at 9.00 am. The plan was for myself and the rest of the crew onboard Scorpion to sweep the course an hour later to make sure no one had any problems. I guessed that by the time we had got to the west of Lyme Bay we should be just a few miles behind them. Unfortunately when we left the Needles thick fog descended and we were only able to run at 17 knots or so. At times the fog was so thick that the visibility was down to twenty metres or so, a little worrying knowing that the fast Sea Cat ferry from Poole was out there somewhere. Thick fog precedes calm seas... GO ON READ MORE !!! View Full PDF

A Wight Good Easter Cruise

14th - 17th April 2005 φ Easter Solent/Isle of Wight Cruise The Easter Cruise has become established as a great way for starting the season, meeting up with friends and exploring the Solent area. This year was no exception, apart from the fact we had volunteered to be cruise co-ordinator this year. The official cruise began on Good Friday but we and a number of other boats agreed to head down to Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, during Thursday and accordingly, we arrived at our base, Ocean Quay Marina on the Itchen River, late morning on Thursday 13 April and loaded up our Ribeye 785, Cutting Edge, with what seemed like enough bags for a three week expedition not a weekend (one drawback to having three females in our family)... More info... read the PDF View Full PDF

Deacon Duo Reclaim Round Britain Record

On 11th-12th August 2005, Mike & Dave Deacon set a new time for the under 30' Round Britain Record of 31 hours 22 minutes 46 seconds in Hot Lemon V, a 10m Scorpion Sports Cruiser with twin standard spec Yanmar 320hp diesel engines. Hot Lemon V has a twin-stepped hull, a deflector instead of a windscreen and an aerofoil section support for the radar, nav lights, twin vhf aerials and radar reflector enhancer. At 3900 RPM the Yanmar engines each used 60 LPH (54kts) but only 45LPH at 3500RPM (48kts); to carry the extra fuel weight, we used 5 blade 28'' pitch props. Our usual 30'' 5 blade props (pitched down to 29'') give 60 kts light. There are twin 100 gall underdeck tanks plus a 190 gallon deck tank. More info Click on the PDF View Full PDF

New Round British Isles Record

In early 2004 Chris Strickland suggested trying to break the record for going around the British Isles. Chris asked myself, John Puddifoot and Gordon Compton to make up the team. To try to break the record was going to be a real challenge as we knew that going around the British Isles is a lot tougher than Round Britain, one for the men rather than the boys. The West Coast of Ireland and the run outside the Outer Hebrides to the Shetlands is very exposed to the Atlantic swell. The Shetlands are further north than Oslo and Reeds Almanac states ‘weather conditions are bad in winter; yachts should only visit Apr-Sept’. Jane takes up the story... read more View Full PDF

Norman Invasion

Late last August, Chris and I cruised up to Rouen and immediately fell in love with the place, so we decided to run a cruise there this year to share the delights with fellow RIBsters. Early Spring 2005 and we had been looking in diaries and calendars and deciding when to go, when the phone rang and John Puddifoot was on the other end. “ Why don’t you arrange the cruise to Honfleur and Rouen for the Early May Bank Holiday weekend?” he suggested, “ Because that is the weekend of the Rouen 24 hour Powerboat race.” Read more details in the full article ! View Full PDF

It Rained on the Seine

Ten club boats registered for the cruise but finally, due to a variety of reasons, we were down to four: Seahound V with Chris Strickland, My Pleasure with Gordon Compton, Tweety Pie with Martin Humphray and Ribaleta with Sir Charles Blois. Other members, who were unable to travel the same time as the cruise, made their way to Rouen by various means of transport. The Rouen 24 hour race is for 3 classes of circuit boats. They race on a 2 mile course around an island in the river and travel at speeds of up to 110 mph, depending on the class. They have to run all day and night with the race starting on Sunday at 16:00 and finishing on Monday – 24 hours later. Each team has four drivers and they generally change every 2 hours when refuelling. The engine cannot be changed, but can be rebuilt – everything else can be changed. More info in the full PDF document View Full PDF

London to Monte Carlo

In September 2005, I was enjoying a celebratory drink with friend Mike Deacon after the team and I had set the record earlier that year for fastest time Round the British Isles in 72 hours and 27 minutes in Seahound V, a Scorpion 10 metre cabin RIB fitted with 2 x 315hp Yanmar Diesels, 36 hours faster than the previous record. I suggested looking at the RYA homologated book to see what other records could be challenged, as Mike also has a taste for breaking records himself. I was part of his team when we set the Round Britain records in August 2001 for under 30 ft and 2002 for 30–50ft in Hot Lemon III and Hot Lemon IV. I was intrigued to see that the London to Monte Carlo record had no records set to date in the under 30ft or 30-50ft classes. Realising that this challenge was only 400miles more than the Round the British Isles, I decided to give it my best attempt. View Full PDF